Broken Ribs and Guilt
by Magpie101
Summary: After the events that lead to discovering Chronos, Rip makes a universal decision that the rest of the team don't agree with. This is a slight AU set during 1x9 Left Behind.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Legends of Tomorrow

"Crack!" Rip heard as a he landed on the floor and felt a blinding pain in his chest for a moment before he blacked out from the pain.

He woke up to a throbbing pain a moment later and ignoring the pain quickly staggered into an upright position and shot back at Chronos.

He and the team was shooting and ducking simultaneously when once again he was hit and landed on the floor. Although, this time he felt something shift inside his chest and once again blacked out.

When he came back to consciousness, he knew for sure that he had broken his ribs and that there might have been something more serious, but he ignored it trying to discover where Mr. Snart went and to try and fix the ship.

He knew in some portion of his mind that free-falling through time would defiantly not help his ribs, but it was because of him and his mission that they were in this position, so he pushed through the pain and successfully found Mr. Snart and later Ms. Lance. Although, discovering who Chronos's identity was like another blow to his chest.

He should never have involved all the others. It was never their fight. It was his and he would successfully find and stop Vandal Savage no matter what, but he would return the team back to their respective timelines before anything else happened to them.

* * *

"Gideon, Where's the Captain?" Sara asked

"He is currently in the medbay." Gideon replied smoothly "Shall I inform him that you are looking for him Ms. Lance?"

"No, no it's fine Gideon. I was just wondering where he was." She said

"Although, I wonder what he is still doing in the medbay after fixing Snart's hand? Maybe he was just cleaning up." She thought out loud mostly to herself, but loud enough for Gideon to detect

"Captain Hunter is currently in the medbay having the internal bleeding from the broken ribs he sustained fixed." She heard Gideon reply

"Wait! What?" Sara asked completely shocked. When did Rip get injured? She racked her brain for an answer, but came up with nothing.

"Gideon, tell Rip that I'm coming to the medbay and will be there in a minute."

"I will tell him Ms. Lance, but I do not believe he will happy about it." Gideon replied

But by that point, Sara was already quickly heading to the medbay.

When she arrived she saw Rip sitting shirtless on the cot trying to put his shirt on.

"Miss. Lance if you please excuse I will be leaving now. I just wanted to finish cleaning up" Rip said politely

"Nope" she replied "You aren't going anywhere yet. Gideon told me that you were getting your busted ribs fixed. Except, when the hell did you even break your ribs! And why did you not tell any of us?!"

"I did not feel the need to inform any of the team because it was unimportant and it was none of their business." Rip said while still struggling to get the shirt over his head

"Stop. Just stop it. You are going to hurt yourself more!" Sara said irritably while watching him struggle

"Let me help you" She said while standing up and heading further into the Medbay from her previous position of leaning against the doorframe.

"I am fine Miss. Lance I do not require assistance, but thank you for the offer." Before he could say anything else he was interrupted

"What the hell! I thought you said Gideon fixed your ribs?" Sara said angrily. When she moved farther into the room she had an unobstructed view of Rip for the first time.

She saw a vivid mass of bruises in a variety of different colors spreading across his rib cage.

"She did, but she said it would be the best if the bruises, that's what they are nothing more, healed naturally." Rip replied while finally successfully putting his shirt on and went to stand up.

"Woah woah woah Slow down there Bucko. Where do you think you're going?"

"I am retiring back to my bedroom then I'm plotting the course back to Star City 2016."

"Wait now I'm even more confused, but firstly why are we going back to Star City? Sara asked confused "Wait! Savage doesn't go to Star City does he?"

"No, No Savage doesn't not go anywhere near Star City according to Gideon." He replied quickly

"So... Why are we going back then?"

"I am returning you and the rest of the team to your proper timelines." Rip said quietly

"Wait! What? You are giving up on saving your wife's life? I never pinned you a coward." Sara said angrily

"I never said I was giving up on saving my families life." Rip said angrily his eyes flashing "I'm just completing my mission alone, so I am returning you all back to your proper timelines."

He then walked around Sara towards to console room while she just stood in the Medbay looking shocked.

"Wait! Slow down!" Sara said while chasing after him in the hall and grabbing Rip's shoulder and pulling him around to face her.

When she did that, Rip felt a flash of pain across his chest and hid the wince that briefly flashed across his face.

"What the hell do you mean? You are returning us to our timelines and continuing on your own?! I thought we were a team Rip!"

"We are a team Ms. Lance, but I believe that it would be more prudent if I continued alone."

"Why now? Huh? Because you felt bad that Ray, Kendra, and I were stuck in 1950's and you want to protect us? That's crap Rip!"

"Not just Dr. Palmer, Ms. Saunders and you, but everyone! I forced Mr. Rory off this vessel and he was forced into the service of the Time Masters broken and reshaped until all was left was Chronos, a bounty hunter! Dr. Stein almost lost his wife in 1975! Mr. Jackson did not even want to come! Dr. Stein was forced to drug him!" And Carter... Carter... I killed Carter with my mission. I won't let it happened to the rest of you." Rip yelled angrily while pacing the small hallway and running his hand through his hair repeatedly

"And me?" Sara asked softly just looking at Rip "What awful thing did you do to me yet? I enjoyed the 1950's, so don't use that as an excuse."

"That's the thing Sara" Rip said using her first name "I don't want to hurt you on the account of my mission. You and the rest of the team had lives in 2016 before I grabbed you. You have families that are waiting for you at home."

Rip then slowly turned around and continued to walk to the console room. His heart felt heavy with guilt and sadness.

When he arrived at the console room, he said, " Gideon map a course for Star City 2016"


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Legends of Tomorrow

Rip felt like a storm of emotions were raging around anger, fear, sadness, and guilt so much guilt. It was like he was drowning in it. Time masters always work alone, so why did he pull all these people into this mess under the guise of this "mission"?

"Mission" He scoffed in his mind "More like failure"

"Captain" Gideon said her voice cutting through Rip's turbulent thoughts.

"Yes, Gideon?"

"There appears to be time disruption ahead. We will not be able to leave for Star City for 24 hours. Unless you are willing to go through?

"No, no Gideon it's not worth the risk" Rip said shaking his head "But we will leave as soon as it's safe."

"Understood Captain"

Rip slowly walked down the hall towards his cabin to get some sleep before leaving the next day.

"Am I doing the right thing?" Rip wondered out loud as he entered his cabin. Almost automatically he slowly got changed and carefully pulling his shirt over his head while his ribs protested against the motion. He decided against attempting to put on a different shirt and climbed into his bed and immediately fell asleep.

He woke up a few hours later to someone pounding on his door. Immediately he jumped up and quickly regretted it when he felt a searing pain across his chest. He ignored and quickly walked over to the door. Nobody has ever knocked on his door before for anything, so when he opened the door he was surprised to see Sara on the other side.

"What's wrong Ms. Lance?" Rip asked worriedly "Who injured themselves, set a fire or did something explode?" Rip suddenly gasped and asked quickly "Nobody managed to break Gideon right? No, no that's bad if they did!"

Sara cut off Rip's worried ramblings by putting her hand over his mouth. Rip hadn't noticed when he came to the door because he was so focused on Sara, but the rest of the team was standing her.

"While I am slightly hurt that the first thing you think of when Sara knocks on the door is that something exploded or somebody hurt themselves." Stein said "The better question is what happened to you?"

In his hurry to answer the door, Rip forgot to pull on a shirt, so the motley of multicolored bruises across his ribs were clearly visible.

"Wow that looks worse than earlier" Sara said

Rory poked his finger into Rip's ribs and said "Does that hurt?"

Rip grimaced and replied, "Yes, Mr. Rory that was unpleasant, so in the future can you please abstain from poking me again."

"Anyways" Jax said shaking his head "What the hell happened to you man?"

"I had a slight collision with the floor"

Kendra looking incredulous "A slight collision? Rip you look like multicolored walking bruise."

Rip shaking his head irritably said, "Anyways, I trust there is a good reason you woke me up Ms. Lance? And why the rest of the team appears to be accompanying you?"

Sara's demeanor immediately tensed and she glared at Rip and said, "Yes, Captain" She said sarcastically. "There is a perfectly good reason. I thought that you should explain to the rest of the team why you are returning us to Star City."

Almost immediately the whole team began protesting

"Are you really giving up on your family?" Stein asked

"Hey! Bozo you dragged me on this stupid quest to 'save' the world, so I'm seeing it to the end." Snart said menacingly while stroking his cold gun

"Savage is never going to stop coming after me and he ki… killed Carter, so I'm not stopping until the bastards dead!" Kendra exclaimed

Sara just stood with her arms crossed over her chest and smirked smugly at Rip's overwhelmed expression.

"Anything else to say Captain?" She said smugly

"Why?" Rip asked utterly bewildered "Why would you want to stay? I lured all of you here with false pretenses. I've put us all in danger. I've kept secrets and behaved like an ass most of the time. Why?"

Sara laughed a little and said "Most of the time Captain? I think all of the time."

Rip just blushed a bit and looked down "I admit I have not been the politest of company, but I just want my family back."

He then looked up and said adamantly "But I refuse to put anymore of you in danger. I will be sending you all back to Star City. Gideon prepare for a time jump to Star City 2016."

"Captain the time disruption is still currently approaching" Gideon said

Rip just shook his head and said, "We should be far enough away still, but still strap in it will be a bumpy ride."

He then turned to his team mates, "Excuse me, but I still must get dressed."

Rip walked back into his room and shut the door. He struggled for a few minutes attempting to put on his shirt before finally completing the task. Quickly he strode out of his room into the hallway where everyone was still standing and pushed passed them and made his way to the console room with the rest of the team trailing behind.

He approached his chair, strapped in, and said "Strap in this might be a bumpy ride."

Rip was slightly surprised to see everybody actually listening to him, but assumed that they didn't want to risk him jumping without being properly prepared after the last time. His chair slowly turned around to show the outside of the ship and he slowly pulled down on the lever beside him.


End file.
